Happily Divorced And After

GoFundMe pages, idled workers and “good-bye and thank you” signs popping up on one long-standing storefront after another. America’s Main Street businesses are on the ropes and many of our moms and pops are facing early retirement. Sadly, an overwhelming eight in 10  small business owners say our nation’s leaders don’t understand their needs–and favor big business anyway–during this time of crisis, according to a new survey of 1,200 entrepreneurs from Small Business for America’s Future.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the protests around the murder of George Floyd and so many other black Americans have exposed and highlighted the structural racism that exists in our healthcare and economic systems. For small business owners—and for all of us who rely on them for jobs and essential and enjoyable services—the aftershocks could be profound. Shutters and closures raise the specter of Main Streets that more resemble the first years of the Great Recession, or the aftermath of an extreme weather event, than a rebounding recovery.

Small businesses–particularly small business owners of color–are suffering and the Trump Administration’s confusing, uneven and lackluster response has left many entrepreneurs feeling poorly understood and left behind. There has been little progress on advancing a comprehensive recovery plan that will help our nation’s primary job creators survive and rebuild over the long term.

This is an unacceptable state of affairs. We cannot let our small businesses bear the economic brunt of the turmoil in our country. It was small businesses—not giant corporations—that led the country out of the Great Recession. They created nearly two-thirds of new jobs following the recession, according to the Small Business Administration. With a long-term recovery plan dedicated to helping small businesses, they can lead the way out of the COVID-19 recession, too.

But we have a lot of work to do. Small business owners were already feeling betrayed by the 2017 Trump tax cuts, citing windfalls for corporations and lip service for them. The feeling only intensified when, under the administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) implementation plan, it became known that chains like Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Shake Shack had an easier time getting a PPP loan than your neighborhood bistro or barber shop.

For entrepreneurs of color, emergency aid has fallen far short. A recent poll of Black and Latino business owners from Color of Change and UnidosUS found just 12% of the owners who applied for aid from the Small Business Administration — most seeking a PPP loan — reported receiving what they had asked for and nearly half say they will be permanently out of business by the end of the year.

The result, unfortunately, is that small businesses have lost faith that government leaders care about them. We can’t go on like this. Our leaders must commit to helping small business owners recover and rebuild over the long-term. To help the small business community in this effort, a coalition of business owners and leaders have come together to launch Small Business for America’s Future.

We need a strong small business voice in Washington committed to ensuring policymakers prioritize Main Street by advancing policies that work for small businesses and their employees. If we don’t empower our job creators, our economic recovery will be much slower and more painful.

Our survey shows the need for a long-term recovery plan for small businesses is undeniable:

?       Nearly a quarter (23%) of small business owners have considered closing their business permanently and 12% are facing the possibility of having to declare bankruptcy because of COVID-19

?       53% have new debt related to COVID-19. Of those, one-third have $50,000 or more in new debt.

?       Three in 10 small businesses will dip into their personal savings to finance reopening while 2 in 10 will use credit cards to do so

Small business owners are in this situation for doing their part to prevent the spread of the virus. Now, it’s time for policymakers to do their part to make sure small businesses can rebuild.

In our survey, small business owners identified three primary areas of concern that need to be addressed in the recovery: lowering healthcare costs, creating common-sense tax policies that put small businesses on a level playing field with big businesses, and ensuring a just and equitable recovery and economy.

The virus has not gone away and the road to recovery will be steep. Small business owners will have to struggle through lower sales volume and depressed consumer demand as people cautiously test the waters. Only 38% of small businesses expect revenue to increase over the next 12 months, according to a CNBC survey.

We need our leaders to dedicate themselves to creating policies that give Main Street a chance to get off the ropes. And we’ll be in their corner fighting for small business and America’s future.

San Bernardino County Fire Department donates a fire engine as part of an ongoing relationship with the College

YUCAIPA, CA—- Crafton Hills College Regional Fire Academy is the recipient of the donation of a Wildland Type III fire engine from the San Bernardino County Fire Department. The program currently holds two full-time fire academies per year, and the donation of the fire engine will benefit students directly. An integral part of the Fire Academy curriculum is the emphasis placed on wildland firefighting operations.

With a fire engine of this type on site, students will more effectively learn the various manipulative hose evolutions that are required in the curriculum. 

“This generous donation will greatly improve our program as well as bringing industry consistency to the students during their time in the academy,” said Michael Alder, chief of the CHC Fire Academy.

“It is ironic that this particular fire engine was one that I had actually helped develop and build while heading up our apparatus committee with the San Bernardino City Fire Department so I’m very familiar with this fire engine.” 

The apparatus is a 1999 International / Pierce Type III Brush Engine which served the San Bernardino Area for more than 20 years. The four-wheel drive engine carries 500 gallons of water, pumps 500 GPM & has the ability to “pump and roll” which is crucial for wildland firefighting. Besides the engine, it comes with a full wildland compliment of gear consistent with industry standards.  

“With fire season longer, hotter and more than intense than ever before, this engine will be a great addition to their training fleet,” said Michael McClintock, Battalion 7, Division 4.

“California crews are truly ‘all risk’ and remain busy year around. CHC does a fantastic job with getting academy graduates ready for the work force.” 

The relationship between the Fire Technology program at Crafton Hills College and the Fire Department is a rich partnership. More than 100 SBCOFD firefighters have completed CHC Fire Academy, including McClintock. The Fire Academies at CHC are an integral part of San Bernardino County’s “Cradle to Career” program, providing educational training and tracks to a career. Additionally, many instructors are current or retired firefighters from the Department. 

“On behalf of our long running program as well as the Crafton Hills College and the San Bernardino Community College District, I would like to thank the San Bernardino County Fire Department for this great donation and all of the support that they have provided us throughout the years,” said Alder.

“We truly value our great working relationship and the positive impact it has on our communities.” Previously the Fire Department has donated two other Type I fire engines as well as a “Rescue Squad.” 

For more information about Crafton Hills College Fire Technology program, visit  https://www.craftonhills.edu/academic-and-career-programs/divs-and-depts/career-ed-and-human-dev/public-safety-and-services/fire-technology/. 

By Anthony Advincula

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — When Ditas Katague was growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, in the 1960s, only 150,000 Filipinos lived in the United States.

About five decades later, when she began leading the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Race, Ethnicities and Other Populations, the Filipino population in the country had risen to nearly 2 million.

Katague now is heading up her third decennial census, and nearly 4 million Filipinos live in America. Of those, more than 1.6 million call California home.

This rapidly growing ethnic group overall has significantly higher incomes compared to the country’s total foreign and native-born populations, but the Filipino voter turnout is only 46%.   It is in closing gaps like this that Katague found her calling early on in census work.

“It has been my desire to be an agent of change and guide census efforts,” said Katague, now director of the California Complete Count – Census 2020 Office. “I am a proud Filipino American.”

Rites of passage to census

Katague’s father had his early years of medical practice in the 1960s in Kansas City. When she was 10 years old, her family moved to a new subdivision in Modesto, California, where she had an experience that forever changed her perspective on the decennial count.

The father of her best friend in the neighborhood had a stroke and was taken from their house in an ambulance. But because the hospital was far from where they lived, the stroke damaged him seriously. 

That terrible memory has always reminded her that if the federal government had allocated more resources to their neighborhood, there might have been a hospital nearby that could have given her friend’s father immediate care.

“I always wonder, if that ER was even 10 minutes closer, would he have suffered less damage? Would he have been able to walk on his own?” Katague said. “If we are not counted, those facilities or things that we need would be a lot farther away.”

Census participation in California

In an effort to achieve a complete count in California, and despite the difficulties of achieving that during the coronavirus pandemic, Katague continues to encourage communities across the state to participate in the census.

As of June 28, she said, California’s count rate was 68% — more than 9 million households have submitted their census questionnaires by phone, online or mail. The state’s rate is higher than the 61.8% national average.

San Mateo, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Marin, Orange and Ventura counties lead California’s census responses.

“It is a huge achievement, considering what we are facing right now, but we still have a lot further to go,” Katague said.

Those most at-risk of going uncounted in the census include minorities, immigrants, residents in hard-to-reach or remote areas, renters and children ages 5 and under.

“[Census] brings the fair share of our representation back to our communities, and that’s why it is really important,” Katague said. “But most importantly, as Filipino Americans, it shows how we are growing and to have the data [that does] not just lump us [all] in with Asian American and Pacific Islanders.”

Challenges in the Filipino community

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Filipinos who don’t participate in the census are mostly undocumented immigrants and those who are too busy with work, especially those with multiple jobs.

“The census is safe and confidential, but I get the fear,” Katague said. “Many of our hardest-to-count populations … our TNTs (undocumented) within the Filipino community are definitely like, ‘I’m not going to answer that.’ But we need the data to understand the impact that Filipino Americans are having on a lot of different things … especially during this time of COVID-19.”

The deadline to submit the questionnaire to the U.S. Census Bureau has been extended to Oct. 31 because of the pandemic.

Katague acknowledges that many households in the Filipino community are composed of multigenerational families, which poses challenges to count.

“We have those living with lola (grandmother) or lolo (grandfather) and staying with them, or tita (aunt) is staying over, and then they’ll often see an undercount because they won’t report everyone,” Katague said. “Maybe tita’s not supposed to be living there at that time, or maybe they think they’ll get their own forms. But since the housing crisis, we have seen houses that are doubling up.”

Is Filipino Asian or Pacific Islander?

Katague is American, born and bred. She attended American public schools, and established her career mostly in American public service.

By identifying herself as Filipino, her ethnicity offers a thread, a more significant meaning for her commitment that every Filipino living in California and the United States —  young and old, documented and undocumented, biracial and multiracial — gets counted.

Katague talked about how being a Filipino American has shaped her personal and political identity, and she mused aloud about questions her own daughter grapples with.

The teenager is multiethnic — half Filipino, a quarter Italian and a quarter Irish.

According to the Census Bureau, an individual’s response to the race question is based upon self-identification. The Bureau does not tell individuals which boxes to mark or what heritage to write in. Instead, the questionnaire gives the respondent the option to self-identify with more than one race or ethnicity.

“My daughter is also trying to find her identity,” Katague said. “She’d say, ‘Mom, we are the Latinos of Asia.’ But the census gives her the opportunity to choose her identity — the way anybody wants to choose it. Now, she’d say, ‘Mom, I’d only fill out Filipino,’ because that’s what I identify with and that’s what resonates with her.”

By Pilar Marrero, Ethnic Media Services

When Imperial County emerged as California’s number one hot spot in COVID-19 infection rates, it exposed three variables – low wage workers, overcrowded households and inadequate health care – that make some regions a prime target for the corona virus. 

These same variables also explain why standard  COVID-19 public health protocols tailored to the middle class are unlikely to flatten the curve much less bend it in the county.

“All these years we kicked the can down the road – now we’ve run out of road,” said longtime community activist Luis Olmedo, CEO of Comite Civico del Valle Inc.

Imperial – with 88% of its population Latinx – hugs the border with Mexico and Arizona, making it both heavily agricultural and a typical border economy with a massive cross border movement of products and people every day.

Since the start of the pandemic, the county’s infection rate has been about six times the state average, with 2,835 cases per 100,000 people versus 491 cases per 100,000 statewide.

“The guidelines and policies on the pandemic were developed in a way that applies largely to the middle class  that can afford to stay home or miss work,” said Edward Flores, a sociologist at UC-Merced. “They’re not addressing the reality of (a certain number of) people who have to work, regardless of the situation” – people Flores calls “distressed workers.”

Flores released a new report “Hidden Threat” co-authored by Ana Padilla, director of the Community and Labor Center at the University, during a recent news conference organized by Ethnic Media Services (EMS).

The data indicates that a high level of “worker distress” – making less than a living wage and living in large households – is related to COVID-19 positivity rates.  Some 35.8% of households in the county have workers who earn less than a living wage – the third highest rate in the state — and the average household size is  three persons, which is the fourth highest in the state, according to the report.

“There is a striking relationship between these variables,” Flores added. “In most counties where those two measures are larger than the average of the state, there is also a higher number of COVID-19 infections.”  

“Stay at home” orders have proven relatively ineffective in counties with large populations of “distressed workers,” according to Flores’ analysis of 1.5 million  records of COVID tests by the Centers for Disease Control.  “During the state at home, COVID fell for all groups except for Latinos, whose rates rose continuously during that time.”

Community advocates have begun pushing for strategies to deal with the pandemic that are tailored to the county’s endemic poverty and lack of resources.

In June, when local officials began moving towards reopening the county in keeping with the lower infection rates of other counties, more than 2,000 residents signed a letter of protest, asking the County Board of Supervisors to keep the “stay at home” phase in place. 

“We believe it’s an artificial choice between economic stability and public health,” said Luis Flores, an activist with the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition which spearheaded the letter signing drive. “We are also not exceptional. What we see here is a dramatic version of the inequalities common in immigrant and low-income communities across the country.”

The letter and the media coverage it received caught the attention of Gov. Gavin Newsom who pushed the county to move back its reopening plans.  But activists argue that the most vulnerable workers who can’t stay at home need other measures to be protected.

“We are pushing to hold large scale retailers and agricultural companies accountable, we are pushing for eviction moratoriums, and for more protections in the workplace,” said Flores of the Justice Coalition.

 A typical “medically underserved” community, Imperial County lacks  speciality care providers and enough medical personnel to cover its needs, said Janet Angulo, director of Public Health for Imperial County.  “We have a lot of residents who seek medical care in Mexicali on the other side of the border,” she noted. “Mexicali is larger, has more hospitals and speciality care providers.  It’s also a very short drive.”

Angulo reports that the county has had more than 7,700 COVID-19 cases and 132 fatalities since the start of the pandemic, and the infection rate continues to rise.  Over 500 patients have been transferred to hospitals outside the county through mutual aid agreements.  Patients who need care but aren’t critical are being treated in the gym of Imperial Valley College, Angulo said.

Making matters worse is the fact that many residents who already suffer from diabetes or other illnesses that make them more vulnerable to infection don’t know how to manage their conditions, according to Michelle Garcia, a nurse practitioner with Calexico Wellness Center.  “They don’t take their glucose levels, they don’t know how to eat properly, and they don’t get the appointments they need,” she said.  “Many don’t have smart phones so  video consultations may not be possible.”

As a border county, Imperial County has a “day population” of workers crossing over every day to work in the fields. Armando Elenes, Secretary Treasurer of the United Farm Workers (UFW), says infection rates are rising among farm workers, not just in Imperial County but across the state.  Letters sent to agricultural companies and contractors warning that safety measures needed to be put in place “went largely unheeded,” Elenes said, “and now we’re seeing the effects of that.”  Elenes says that some employers refuse to pay workers when they are infected, blaming them for not taking care of themselves.  Both undocumented and guest workers “work in fear” that they will lose their jobs if they complain about the virus, he says.

On Wednesday June 24, 2020, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the agency’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C., will be named after Mary W. Jackson, the first Black American female engineer at NASA.

Jackson started her NASA career in the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Jackson, a mathematician and aerospace engineer, went on to lead programs influencing the hiring and promotion of women in NASA’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. In 2019, she was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Administrator Bridenstine said, “Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space. Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology…we proudly announce the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building. It appropriately sits on ‘Hidden Figures Way,’ a reminder that Mary is one of many incredible and talented professionals in NASA’s history who contributed to this agency’s success. Hidden no more, we will continue to recognize the contributions of women, African Americans, and people of all backgrounds who have made NASA’s successful history of exploration possible.”

The work of the West Area Computing Unit caught widespread national attention in the 2016 Margot Lee Shetterly book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.” The book was made into a popular movie that same year and Jackson’s character was played by award-winning actress Janelle Monáe.

In 2019, after a bipartisan bill by Sens. Ted Cruz, Ed Markey, John Thune, and Bill Nelson made its way through Congress, the portion of E Street SW in front of NASA Headquarters was renamed Hidden Figures Way.

“We are honored that NASA continues to celebrate the legacy of our mother and grandmother Mary W. Jackson,” said, Carolyn Lewis, Mary’s daughter. “She was a scientist, humanitarian, wife, mother, and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed, not only at NASA, but throughout this nation.”

Jackson was born and raised in Hampton, Virginia. After graduating high school, she graduated from Hampton Institute (an HBCU) in 1942 with a dual degree in math and physical sciences, and initially accepted a job as a math teacher in Calvert County, Maryland. She would work as a bookkeeper, marry Levi Jackson and start a family, and work a job as a U.S. Army secretary before her aerospace career would take off.

In 1951, Jackson was recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which in 1958 was succeeded by NASA. She started as a research mathematician who became known as one of the human computers at Langley. She worked under fellow “Hidden Figure” Dorothy Vaughan in the segregated West Area Computing Unit.

After two years in the computing pool, Jackson received an offer to work in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, a 60,000-horsepower wind tunnel capable of blasting models with winds approaching twice the speed of sound. There, she received hands-on experience conducting experiments. Her supervisor eventually suggested she enter a training program that would allow Jackson to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer. Because the classes were held at then-segregated Hampton High School, Jackson needed special permission to join her white peers in the classroom. 

Jackson completed the courses, earned the promotion, and in 1958 became NASA’s first Black female engineer. For nearly two decades during her engineering career, she authored or co-authored research numerous reports, most focused on the behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes. In 1979, she joined Langley’s Federal Women’s Program, where she worked hard to address the hiring and promotion of the next generation of female mathematicians, engineers and scientists. Mary W. Jackson retired from Langley in 1985.

In 2017, then 99-year-old Katherine Johnson was there to personally dedicate a new state-of-the-art computer research facility the bears her name at Langley. Johnson, another original member of the West Area Computing Unit, also was honored as a trailblazer and given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. In addition, Johnson was part of the group honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, and NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation facility in Fairmont, West Virginia, also bears Johnson’s name. 

“NASA facilities across the country are named after people who dedicated their lives to push the frontiers of the aerospace industry. The nation is beginning to awaken to the greater need to honor the full diversity of people who helped pioneer our great nation. Over the years NASA has worked to honor the work of these Hidden Figures in various ways, including naming facilities, renaming streets and celebrating their legacy,” added Bridenstine. “We know there are many other people of color and diverse backgrounds who have contributed to our success, which is why we’re continuing the conversations started about a year ago with the agency’s Unity Campaign. NASA is dedicated to advancing diversity, and we will continue to take steps to do so.” 

The Trump Administration’s History of Honoring “Hidden Figures” and Promoting Black Americans at NASA

• In 2018, Vanessa Wyche was appointed as the first Black American to serve as Deputy Director of Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
• In 2019, President Donald J. Trump signed the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act that posthumously awarded the honor to Jackson, who passed away in 2005, and her “Hidden Figures” colleagues Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Christine Darden.
• In 2019, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Clayton Turner as the first Black American to serve as Director of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

• In 2020, Vice President Pence visited NASA’s Langley Research Center and honored the “Hidden Figures” women and met with some of Katherine Johnson’s family members.   
• For Black History Month 2020, First Lady Melania Trump hosted Deborah Tulani Salahu-Din, an educator and researcher in African American studies, and faculty members and students from Cornerstone Schools of Washington, D.C. in the Family Theater of the White House for a private screening of the movie “Hidden Figures.”

With COVID-19, businesses have started to scale back a little on their advertising and marketing and other businesses have started to market more within the Black and Brown communities due to the rising social justice issues. It is all about being creative in your marketing approach and screenwriter and playwright, T’ana Phelice is helping businesses get some exposure through her latest film, T. Alexander.

T Alexander is a 30-minute short film about a beloved basketball talent, Tosha Alexander, who lost her basketball scholarship after deciding to move forward with an unplanned pregnancy. Prior to becoming a mother at the age of 17, she was the family’s golden child. Although her mother often speaks of Tosha’s life being ruined, and her sister urges her to make fast money by using her good looks, Tosha is determined to become an actress, a second dream she hasn’t given up on. Her boyfriend Damien works at the local grocery store to support everyone in the household,  but Tosha’s family refuses to respect him.

This film will be a testament to the power of having a positive self image. It will document the struggle of being a young parent while also defying the belief that black men do not honor black women. Voice-overs will be used to set a poetic theme, and allow viewers into the mind of the protagonist as she experiences emotional roller coasters throughout her journey.

The story will not be polished with glamour or cliche’ interactions between its characters. It will be raw and true to the grit that’s paired with anguish, jealousy, substance abuse, illness, resentment, unfulfillment, loss, hustle, setbacks, disagreement, disappointments, ruthlessness, sadness, frustration, heartbreak, confusion, mistakes, choices, and ultimately a small win that pays off the latter.

The ultimate goal is to inspire. The film will accomplish that by demonstrating the odds our young woman is able to move in her favor.

The producer of T Alexander will distribute the motion picture to film festivals, and AmazonPrime. Due to a recent theatrical success tied to the writer, director, and co director, business relationships have been formed to secure the release of the film to the public. To enable wider distribution, we will also place the films promotional materials on public platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Product and/or business will be featured in the film. Business name, brand, and/or product will be showcased in the film by being a visual element in a particular scene. Example; if the sponsor would like business featured, the business, including business name, will be a focal point of a scene. Example two; if the sponsor would like product featured, the product will be seen or used in a scene in the film. Product will also be a focal point. Sponsors/businesses will also be included in the films closing credits.

For those that are interested, please contact T’ana Phelice at Mstanaphelice@gmail.com or at 323-327-9208.

$5 million fundraising goal and an innovative model of philanthropy

INLAND EMPIRE, CA—- Thanks to the long-standing leadership of Black-led organizations and the power of the cross-racial coalitions they have built, we are seeing tremendous advancements in racial equity in the United States and globally. Countless government agencies, corporations, and foundations have, in a matter of weeks, redoubled their commitments to racial equity and combating anti-Black racism.

Black-led organizations (BLOs) in the Inland Empire are an important part of this story. Capitalizing on decades of patient work and incremental wins to advance racial equity, BLOs in the Inland Empire have scored some significant policy victories in recent weeks. These include getting San Bernardino County as the first in California to declare racism a public health crisis, replicating these victories in several other cities in Southern California, and getting San Bernardino County to include equity as a standalone element in its Countywide Vision.

Continuing in that tradition, the Inland Empire Funders Alliance (IEFA) is proud to partner with the Black Equity Initiative of the Inland Empire in launching the Black Equity Fund—a regional pooled fund with a preliminary goal of raising $5 million over two years and updated thereafter to support long-term investments in Black-led organizations. The Black Equity Fund is being seeded with investments from The California Endowment and the Inland Empire Community Foundation, and has already garnered interest from several foundations and private donors.

The IE Black Equity Fund is the first known regional pooled fund on Black equity that brings together statewide, regional and local funders as well as private donors and corporate philanthropy, working in partnership with leaders of the Inland Empire Black Equity Initiative to advance their priority issues. 

An important innovation of the IE Black Equity Fund is to follow the guiding principles of theTrust-Based Philanthropy Project, which recognizes “the inherent power imbalance between foundations and nonprofits” and approaches grantee relationships “from a place of trust, humility and transparency.” Partners in the regional fund pledge to: 1) give multi-year, unrestricted funding; 2) center IE Black Equity Initiative leaders in decision-making; 3) simplify and streamline paperwork; 4) be transparent and responsive; and 5) offer support beyond the check by participating in peer learning with IE Black Equity Initiative leaders to improve Black equity in funders’ overall grantmaking practice.

Organizers of the Black Equity Fund—including the Inland Empire Funders Alliance, IE Black Equity Initiative, Inland Empire Community Foundation, and the Center for Social Innovation—noted the importance of seizing the moment, and doing so in a way that fundamentally alters power relationships in philanthropy and empowers Black community leaders as much as possible.

 “The Black Equity Fund is being developed through an iterative process based in equity whereby those most impacted and closest to the problems and conditions we need to change are driving the strategy and decision making process.  It’s in those lived experiences where generative and relevant solutions are birthed,” said Margarita Luna, Senior Program Manager at The California Endowment and vice-chair of the Inland Empire Funders Alliance.  

Dina Walker, President & CEO of BLU Educational Foundation noted another innovative aspect of the partnership: “The Black Equity Initiative is a collective impact model with a cultural lens centered on the principles of Kwanzaa,” she noted. “This includes self determination, collective work, and responsibility. It is from this foundation that we work together to create the vision, develop strategy. work the plan and ultimately reap the harvest. We trust and move forward together knowing that our success is intrinsically tied to the success of each other.  This is how we meet the needs and dreams of our community.”

Felicia Jones, Associate Director at Congregations United for Prophetic Engagement, noted that Black led organizations have a powerful track record for leading equity work in the Inland Empire. “Groups began to formally collaborate on issues of educational equity more than a decade ago, moving important reforms in school districts throughout the region,” she noted. “The collaborative, formerly known as the African American Education Collaborative and later renamed the IE Black Equity Initiative, continued to evolve from a group of 10 to now more than 20 Black led organizations and has expanded its collective work into criminal justice reform, higher education, and civic engagement.”

“There is going to be an intentional need for philanthropy to embrace this moment with us, heal with us, learn with us, and see this as a movement building opportunity,” said Pastor Samuel Casey, Executive Director of Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement. “We cannot have a short attention span when it comes to systemic solutions. We will need long-term, general operating support to ensure that the gains and wins that have been, and will be achieved, are sustained.” 

Michelle Decker, CEO of the Inland Empire Community Foundation and a co-investor in the Black Equity Fund, underscored the need for funders to repair the damage from decades of underinvestment in Black communities. “We need to come together in a manner that honors the expertise of Black-led organizations,” she noted, adding that “the economic and health challenges of COVID-19, as well as the collective trauma of the killing of Black lives, have shown us that the success of the region will rise or fall based on its progress on racial equity.”

Finally, the Center for Social Innovation led by Professor Karthick Ramakrishnan at UC Riverside is a strategic data partner to both the Black Equity Initiative and the Black Equity Fund. It will provide research support to help motivate, inform, and learn from philanthropic investments in Black-led organizations in the Inland Empire. “The Inland Empire is a center of innovation when it comes to advancing racial equity,” Ramakrishnan noted. “Our communities have come together in even more powerful ways after COVID-19 than they did previously, and we are grateful that our data and narrative work can help strengthen regional investments and support the leadership of Black equity organizations in the region.”

By Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media 

Draymond Green, 30, who has won three National Basketball Association (NBA) Championships with the San Francisco-based Golden State Warriors, is known to be an agitator on the court. 

Now, the three-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection has mounted an attack off the hardwood in another arena: Politics. Green is speaking out, online and off, expressing his displeasure for Assembly Bill (AB) 1998, the “Dental Practice Act,” which is authored by Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell). 

Low’s district covers parts of the South Bay and Silicon Valley. Home to a number of tech companies, the area is more than 50% White and under 3% African American. Latinos account for about 17%. 

Last week, Green fired off a series of tweets directed at AB 1998 and Low. He tagged the politician in them. 

The NBA player went on the defense after Low made an indirect reference to him in a published report. “No Californian deserves to be harmed by substandard, profit-hungry care, regardless of whether they’re an NBA champion,” the politician said. 

Green took Low’s comment as a flagrant foul — aggressive contact, in this case, coming from a politician against an opponent. 

Green shot back, telling Low his bill would hamper low-income communities’ access to dental products. 

“The only issue of profits here is you giving more to dentists, while, once again, underserved communities are shut out. Sounds like you’d prefer if I shut up and dribble @Evan_Low,” Green tweeted on July 10, the day Low’s comment surfaced in the media. 

AB 1998, the “Dental Practice Act,” if passed by the California Senate, would require dentists to conduct an in-person examination of their patients prior to approving a treatment plan for clear aligners or other orthodontics. 

The bill would also prohibit internet companies from offering direct-to-consumer products to Californians until legislation is passed that establishes parameters for how teleorthodontic companies may operate. 

Green’s political pushback against AB 1998 may be rooted in more than one stake the athlete has in teledentistry. Green has a financial investment in the SmileDirectClub (SDC), a global leader in the online dental care industry. He also shares personal stories of how affordable direct-mail dental products helped him fix his teeth and regain his confidence while he was growing up. 

SDC markets non-prescription straightening aligners at discounted costs to correct teeth-positioning problems. 

In September 2019, Forbes reported that Green started investing in SDC four years earlier in 2015 at a $150 million valuation. The financial publication also mentioned that Green could make 40 times more from his investment. 

SDC began trading publicly on Sept. 12, 2019, according to Forbes. 

On May 21, during a Business and Professions Committee hearing on AB 1998, Low opened up his presentation to the members of the committee with a salvo declaring that teledentistry and telehealth are “telecrap.” 

“This will disproportionately hurt communities of color; not everyone can go to health-care providers,” Low said. “The reality is that subpar treatment can do real harm, the risk is too high.” 

Green says he is standing up for disadvantaged African Americans who can’t afford to just drop into a dentist’s office to get x-rays and clearance before they can purchase dental products they need from companies like SDC. 

“Do you want them to tell them they’re not worthy of a good smile? They’re not worthy of confidence, employment opportunities, and so many other benefits, a good smile brings? @Evan_Low,” Green tweeted. 

If approved, AB 1998 would make it more difficult to access teledentistry services by requiring an in-person visit to a dentist. 

Two days before Green’s Twitter rant, he sent a two-page letter to several California politicians explaining the hardship he experienced trying to get affordable dental care. 

In it, the athlete said his mother struggled to pay $7,000 for the metal braces he wore between his eighth and 12th-grade years. He also wrote that he broke his retainers when arrived at Michigan University and couldn’t leave to fix them because of the strict demands of his basketball schedule. 

Because of “crooked teeth,” he wrote, smiling wasn’t a gesture of his for many years. 

“After 7 years of hiding my smile, I made a decision that I was going to finally fix my teeth again. Only this time I decided that I would try invisible aligners. I came across a tele-dentistry platform with licensed dentists by the name of SmileDirectClub,” Green stated in the letter. 

Green told recipients of his letter that the California State National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the California Black Chamber of Commerce are all opposed to AB 1998. 

In March, California State NAACP President Alice Huffman asked the legislature to knock down any bill that would create an obstacle to affordable dental care. 

Huffman said SDC’s teledentistry platform for clear aligner therapy treatments has helped more than 100,000 Californians, including African Americans. 

“Now, more than ever, the African American community needs as many options as possible to close the disparity gap for oral health care. African Americans and other people of color have the right to affordable, quality health care treatment,” Huffman said. 

In his letter, Green said because Assemblymember Low’s constituents are among the richest Californians, maybe he is unaware how his legislation might hurt poor Californians. 

“If there is something I’m missing as to why you would consider adopting a bill that would take away doctor discretion to subject a patient to radiation, that would also limit access and significantly increase the cost of dental care then let’s set up a call to discuss,” he offered. “This is California. We’re supposed to be leading on these issues. Instead, this bill is a step in the wrong direction.”

By Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media Services

If Willie Sutton were alive, he wouldn’t be robbing banks, more likely he’d be a scam artist, siphoning off a portion of the almost $70 million that Indiana consumers alone have reportedly lost to fraud even before the COVID-19 pandemic opened up a pandora’s box of new scam opportunities.

“At the Federal Trade Commission, we always say the fraudsters follow the headlines,” explained Todd Kossow, Director of the Midwest Region of the FTC. “They take advantage of the major news stories of the day and find new ways to access consumer’s personal financial information. The corona virus pandemic has been no exception to that.”

Kossow’s remarks were delivered at an on-line convening for ethnic media primarily covering Indianapolis and nearby regions. In addition to FTC staff, presenters included representatives from state and local agencies responsible for consumer protection, as well as from non-profits like the AARP, the Better Business Bureau, and others on the frontlines of battling scams and deceptive marketing practices.

“Scammers are like vampires who bleed their victims not just of money but of hope and self-respect,” said conference moderator Sandy Close, director of Ethnic Media Services. Close urged media participants “to shine a light on these activities through your media coverage and your community service.”

Susan Bolin, from the Better Business Bureau, concurred with the need for increased media coverage and involvement. While acknowledging active media participation in Fort Wayne and Evansville, “we still need more help. Just imagine the impact that we can have if every media outlet partnered with us.” Ultimately, Bollin said she wants to make Indianapolis a scam-free zone.

The goal is a daunting one.

Scams that have proliferated since the pandemic include large up-front money payments to companies claiming they can assist homeowners to renegotiate mortgage payments they missed because of COVID linked job layoffs; or scams that promise small businesses an inside track to securing federal paycheck protection funds to retain employees.

“So what are the main types of COVID-19 related scams that we’re seeing?” Kossow asked. “Scammers who are pitching so-called treatments and cures for COVID-19 without any proof that they work… The FTC has sent warning letters to nearly 250 companies making such claims.”

Presenters cited several “red flags” typically associated with scams: run out and buy a gift card to make a payment; a money wire transfer is required; an upfront payment is necessary before a prize can be claimed; authentication of your bank account number or verification of your Social Security number as mandatory in order to speed or complete the application or funding process.

Several speakers said that humiliation over being scammed often discourages victims from reporting what happened. There’s also a sense that trying to recover the money is a hopeless task. This is particularly true with gift card transactions. At least with payments made on credit cards, victims have a bank record to point to in filing a fraud claim. Moreover, victims have a self-interest in reporting scams, Andrew Johnson, Chief of Staff of the FTC’s Division of Consumer Affairs, emphasized

“Since July, 2018, In just a two-year period, the FTC mailed $23.6 million to almost 140,000 people in the state of Indiana, which is pretty remarkable,” Johnson said. “Generally, when the FTC settles or wins a case, and we get money that we can return back to consumers, one of the main ways we determine who to send money to, is we look back at our database of who reported to us.”

One net result of the pandemic’s advent is a decrease in face-to-face counseling that would encourage reporting to the FTC.

Cheryl Koch-Martinez, who works at Indiana Legal Services, said her organization assists low-income residents in understanding their financial options and advising them on consumer fraud cases. Given the imperative for social-distancing, “face-to-face communication is just not there,” she said. Telephone and e-mail are inefficient substitutes for the sensitive conversations that need to occur.

Reverend David Green, Senior Pastor, Purpose of Life Ministry, shared the experience of a maintenance engineer at his church. Originally from El Salvador,

he immigrated to the United States 20 years ago and obtained citizenship. He sent $1,000 to purchase a trailer in Kentucky and then sought to make arrangements with the sellers to personally pick it up. “They said, ‘no,’” Green reported. “They said they needed to deliver it and that if he would go to PayPal and send $600 for the insurance on the delivery of the trailer, that when the trailer got delivered, he would get the $600 back.”

In this case, Reverend Green encouraged his church’s employee to file a report with the FTC and the Better Business Bureau after the seller would answer phone calls but promptly hang up.

Several speakers highlighted the debilitating effects of scams that prey on people’s loneliness. While romance scams come readily to mind, scammers also have used a victim to become unwitting money mules, someone who moves money to a third-party. The use of third parties makes the origin and movement of financial transactions more difficult for authorities to trace.

Such was the case Assistant U.S. Attorney MaryAnn Mindrum described of an elderly woman who was told she’d won the lottery and had to pay fees before she could secure her winnings. She did not win the lottery, lost a substantial amount in so-called fees, “but,” Mindrum explained, “she talked to the scammer for two years!” Mindrum said her office stepped in to end the relationship, extradited the scammer to the U.S. and successfully prosecuted him. The woman was not charged.

By Lou Yeboah

Prophecy is being fulfilled right in front of our eyes! Wake up! Wake up from your slumber! Be alert! Be discerning! Watch and Pray! Pray in order that you may have strength to escape the things that are about to take place. Live in the light of Christ coming. Do this, knowing that your salvation is nearer than when you first believed.  [1 Peter 4:7]. For indeed the “fig tree” is putting forth “buds!” I tell you, you best wake up, and wake up now! Because the end to all things is approaching, says the Lord. “Prepare for a time of trouble. Seek Me while I may be found. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts… “[Isaiah 55:6-7]. Be clear-minded, and understand what time it is!

I want you to know that world situations are preparations for events leading to Christ’s return. One event, the return of Israel to their land which God promised to them many times in the book of Genesis.  This prophecy was fulfilled. Another world event, the rise of Russia to a place of international power and importance. This prophecy is being fulfilled. And yet, another the important developments and mind-boggling events is the development of a one-world government. I tell you, you best wake up and wake up now!  These and multitudes of other prophetic fulfillment are among the strongest proofs of the accuracy, truthfulness and inspiration of the Bible. It is imperative that you make sure you are ready to meet your Maker, The closer we draw to the second coming of Christ, the more urgent it is that we awake out of spiritual sleep! If ever there was a time to pay attention and get prepared, it is now! Wake up! Be discerning! Know what time of day it is! As Paul admonishes us in Ephesians 5:16? If we do not use this period of grace that we have been given by God with the correct focus, we might be blown away like so much chaff.

I tell you, prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes, and it pains God to know that the suffering is about to get much, much worse. It grieves Him to consider the diseases and other horrors soon to be visited upon Earth. But it is all part of His plan to teach man the absolute necessity of obeying His law. And scripture after scripture shows that God’s plan will succeed! I tell you, you best wake up, and wake now!

“Hearken, O ye nations of the earth, and hear the words of that God who made you. … “How often have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thundering, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines and diseases of every kind, … and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not!”

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near,” [Revelation 1:3, see also 22:7].

END TIME SIGNS … [Daniel 12:4; Zechariah 12:3; Matthew 13:25-30; Matthew 24:6-14,24; Luke 21:25-26;

1 Thessalonians 5:3; 1Timothy 4:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:1-52Timothy 4:4; 2 Peter 2:1-3; 2 Peter 3:3-6].